Howard, hot shooting lift Magic past Bobcats

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Dwight Howard scored 33
points and added 18 rebounds and four blocks as the Orlando
Magic snapped a three-game slide with a 103-87 victory over
the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night.

Howard and company outscored the Bobcats, 61-36, in the second
half en route to the victory.

"Coach (Stan) Van Gundy was really mad at our effort (in the
first half)," Howard said. "He really got on us, but he was
right with everything he said. We have to consistently play with
a lot of energy because we have a target on our back."

Trailing, 57-45, after a 3-pointer by Charlotte's Jason
Richardson, Orlando made its next nine shots and went on a 20-4
run. Jameer Nelson's 3-pointer with 7:50 left pulled Orlando
within four at 57-53, but Raymond Felton calmly sank a jumper to
extend Charlotte's lead back to six.

Hedo Turkoglu found Howard open underneath for an easy dunk to
knot the score at 59-59, and Nelson's jumper at the 5:15 mark of
the third gave Orlando its first lead since 3:18 in the second
quarter.

"We did a good job of finding the open guys in the second half,"
Turkoglu said. "They found me open and kept giving it to me."

Matt Carroll tied the score at 61-61, but a hook shot by Howard
put Orlando ahead to stay. Keyon Dooling capped the run with a
layup to put the Magic up 65-61.

Orlando pushed its lead to eight points, 72-64, after three
periods and made 12-of-16 shots in the third while holding
Charlotte to just 5-of-19 shooting.

"We let our offense dictate how we played in the first half,"
Nelson said. "And we can't do that. We need to have more of a
defensive mindset and let our defense create our offense for
us."

Richardson got the Bobcats to within seven with a shot from the
arc, but the Magic continued their hot shooting and quickly
pushed the lead to 13 points, 82-69, on a driving layup by
Dooling with 8:11 left in the game.

It was also a battle in the paint between the first two picks of
the 2004 draft. Top pick Howard clearly outplayed No. 2
selection Emeka Okafor, who scored 16 points and grabbed 12
rebounds for the Bobcats.

"The one and two thing," Howard said. "That rivalry is over.
We just want to go out and there and win for our team. We get a
little fired up to go up against each other, but the main thing
is trying to help our team win."

The duo are two of just four players in the league averaging a
double-double as well as at least 2.0 blocks.

The Bobcats shot 60 percent (12-of-20) from the floor in the
second quarter and took a 51-42 lead into halftime. They went
on a 14-4 run to end the half with Richardson and Felton each
scoring five points during the spurt, and Gerald Wallace and
Othella Harrington contributing the other two baskets.

"I thought for the first half we really played well," Charlotte
coach Sam Vincent said. "But the Magic just caught up with us
in the second half. We really missed having another big body
tonight."

Charlotte had just players in uniform after starting center
Primoz Brezec and reserve forward Walter Herrmann were traded to
the Detroit Pistons for Nazr Mohammed in the hours leading up
to the game.

The Bobcats were already without forwards Adam Morrison and Sean
May due to season-ending knee surgeries for both players.